Matapalo

Children weren't the only ones to enjoy coloring in Matapalo

Matapalo

Breathtaking beauty on display - mountains, whispy clouds, and one large volcano a safe distance away.

Matapalo

Then Jesus said, What is the Kingdom of God like? How can I illustrate it? It is like a tiny mustard seed that a man planted in a garden; it grows and becomes a tree, and the birds make nests in its branches.

Matapalo

Challenge to North Americans...trench a water-pipe wearing a pink skirt and keep it as clean as she does.

Matapalo

Mark showing off his pipes.

Matapalo

Sharing a smile while pitching in to help his family trench their pipe.

Bringing Water to Those in Need

This was a report we received prior to the project in Matapalo describing the situation in the community.

Located Southwest of El Palito, this is a community composed of 99 families, scattered in an area of about one square mile. This community belongs to the municipality of El Triunfo. About 8 years ago, Matapalo was one big community, and got funds for a water project, however, because of the spread of the area, the upper community decided to keep the water project for themselves, therefore leaving the lower community without a system.

About one year ago, the community got together and prioritized their needs as follows:

Water

Latrines

Road

Reforestation

A collective bakery to generate income for the community

To achieve these goals, the community organized different committees, among them a water board to look for alternatives to obtain their water system. Mrs Teresa Huete is the water board president, who has been leading the project. She started by walking all the surrounding hill to locate water sources. Then after locating a few of them, they contacted Mr. Jonathan Carson, a volunteer from Peace Corps to help them decide which was the right source.

The water board and general assembly meets every 20th of the month to discuss the progress done. They have managed to save some funds by 60 families who voluntarily decided to give 5 Lempiras a month to cover for all expenses and to be able to buy the source. The municipality of El Triunfo collaborated with them by helping them out with part of the funds needed to pay for the source. Today they own their source, measured to throw 8 gallons per minute during the dry season. They have also managed to get all the required permits for the trenches and the pipes passing through private land.

So far, 60 families are committed to work on the water project, but certainly more would be willing to commit once the project seems more feasible.

Mr. Adolfo Medina and Mr. Levi Barclay have done a site survey and developed a design of a water system for this community. The source is located around 4 kms away from the community with a very good fall for the system to be totally gravity fed.

According to the community, the best time for this project would be the months of October and November since it is at this time that they have a break from their agricultural activities.